Slashdot, SourceForge looking for new owners after parent dumps them on the web's doorstep

Maybe a media and software company might like them better

DHI Group, the company formerly known as Dice Holdings, has announced that it's selling off its Slashdot Media division following two successive quarters of declining revenue.

DHI's main business is running job-listing and recruitment sites, including Dice.com. But in 2012 it acquired Slashdot Media – which includes source code hosting site SourceForge – with the stated goal of "providing content and services that are important to tech professionals in their everyday work lives."

It's since changed its mind. In a blog post on Tuesday, DHI said its strategy "has been refined to focus on providing digital recruitment tools and services to connect employers and recruiters with talent in multiple professional communities."

It added that it reckoned Slashdot and SourceForge would do better "as part of a business that is focused primarily on media and software solutions."

The Slashdot Media division has never been a comfortable fit at DHI, and repeated efforts to extract money from the Slashdot and SourceForge properties have been met with angry backlash from users.

In 2014, a redesign of the Slashdot discussion site prompted a widespread user boycott, with many commenters refusing to post anything but vitriolic, often profane criticisms of the site's revamped UI.

Then earlier this year, SourceForge started serving up new ads that many users found deceptive. Worse, it began injecting adware into open source software installers for Windows, and in some cases SourceForge administrators even took control of the SourceForge accounts of open source projects so they could make sure that only the ad-encumbered installers were available.

The issue came to a head when the popular Gnu Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) pulled its code from the site, saying it was no longer "a useful and trustworthy place to develop and host FLOSS applications."

SourceForge fessed up to the gaffe in June and said it had "discontinued this practice promptly based on negative community feedback," but the damage was largely done.

DHI did not say whether it is in active talks with a potential buyer for the Slashdot Media properties or how much it might want for them.

"The company is committed to ensuring that the transition is seamless and transparent to its community and clients, while working to maintain high levels of quality as it does today," DHI said. ®